Hello, my name is Carol Gebhardt, and I was the coordinator of a collaborative project between the Northern Nevada Writing Project and Nevada's Northwest Professional Development Program in 2007. Working as a team of fourteen K-12 Nevada educators, we examined Robert Marzano's research on effectively using comparison and contrast thinking to increase student learning, and we ended up creating a new print resource for teachers and administrators: The Going Deep with Compare and Contrast Thinking Guide.

Below is the introduction I wrote for the guide that introduces my personal philosophy on why comparing and contrasting is a tool we should all further explore as educators:

"I sat in my small reading group listening to my students share their Venn Diagrams about two characters in the story. 'One is a boy and the other is a girl?' one student answered with a pensive look on his face. I wanted to be sarcastic and say, 'No kidding!, but I didn’t. I did feel frustrated that the child was in 6th grade and could not see past gender when finding similarities and differences in character traits. That same afternoon I came to the conclusion my students just did not know how to think deeper when making comparisons, and I knew it was my job to guide their learning. I started looking for inspiration and found it in several different places.

"W.B. Yeats once wrote, 'Education is not the filling of the pail, but the lighting of the fire.' In 1923, Yeats won the Nobel Prize in Literature for writing inspirational poetry in such an artistic form that it was said to inspire the spirit of the whole nation. I guess you could say his poetry set people on fire. I decided that’s what I wanted to do, light the fire for my students. I wanted them to be able to compare and contrast ideas across the curriculum and then write about those comparisons in a thoughtful manner. The Yeats quote inspired me to ask the question, 'How do we light the fire in our students’ thinking? What can we use for matches to ignite this fire?'

"So, I set off to find a few matches to get us started. I became deliberate in my approach to teaching writing. I was no longer just teaching a strategy here and there; I picked strategies based on how well the strategy could make my students think and write.

"A 'match book' used for this guide is Robert Marzano’s book titled Classroom Instruction that Works. Marzano and his team gathered studies by other researchers and discovered there were common strategies being used by educators to increase the achievement of students. In his book he shares the research numbers and explains how these strategies can be used correctly to enhance the performance of students. While I consider each one of Marzano’s effective strategies a 'match,' for this guide I will focus on the strategy found in chapter 2, 'Identifying Similarities and Differences.' It exemplifies how an effective strategy can spread across grade levels, and I think that is precisely what makes a strategy effective; it works at any grade level. Working with teachers in the Northern Nevada Writing Project, it has become clear to me that writing is definitely a place where we need effective strategies that work at any grade level because writing is a developmental process.

"Marzano discusses the importance of how the teacher structures identifying similarities and differences. It is not enough to throw a Venn Diagram chart out and say, “Okay, how are these topics the same and different?” Marzano’s four generalizations from the research and theory in 'Identifying Similarities and Differences' include: A) Present students with explicit guidance in the identification of similarities and differences, B) Ask students to independently identify similarities and differences, C) Use graphic forms to enhance understanding, and D) Identifying similarities and differences can occur by asking students to compare, classify, and to use the forms of metaphors and analogies.

"The writing process is another set of 'matches' for our students. I have found comparing and contrasting to be highly effective in increasing students’ ability to formulate ideas during the pre-writing stage. Shirley Dickson’s article, 'Integrating Reading and Writing to Teach Compare-Contrast Text Structure: A Research Based Methodology,' reminded me how students need to be presented with text structures to fully understand how to write in the genre form we are asking of them. Having students compare one text structure with another and allowing them to use this as a launching pad for writing is a way to support all of our students in becoming better writers.

"Let’s try to think about lighting the flame, instead of filling the pail."

Now available from the Northern Nevada Writing Project The Going Deep with Compare and Contrast Thinking Guide "Like all the NNWP guides, Going Deep with Compare and Contrast Thinking takes abstract thinking and embeds it in highly practical lessons that teachers of all grade levels and content areas can use instantly.  I have never seen books so jam-packed with fun lessons that animate learning and promote student engagement. But  what makes these books so special is that they are created and refined by the same teachers and students who use them. The NNWP has created an engine for learning and curriculum development we can call learn from." --Barry Lane, author of The Reviser's Toolbox and 51 Wacky We-Search Reports Click here for information on ordering your own copy.	Another NNWP Professional Development Project How did we creatire The Going Deep with Compare and Contrast Thinking Guide? Between January and April 2007, fifteen outstanding teachers in Northern Nevada (representing kindergarten through high school) used and developed new comparison & contrast techniques to use with their students. These teachers' original tools, formats for writing, and lesson plans became the pages of The Going Deep with Compare and Contrast Thinking Guide. On this page at WritingFix, we have made available about 20% of the materials from this new workbook. We will be offering a variety of workshops on the materials in the guide in Northern Nevada, and new resources will be developed from these workshops by participants. We will post some of the outstanding tools for comparison and contrast on this page. Our team of teachers meet to discuss comparison and contrast thinking in January 2007. A year later, a new 144-page guide was ready to be shared with teachers.
The Workbook's Guiding Essential Questions:	Teachers who Contributed to the Workbook:
How does comparing and contrasting push learners to higher levels of thinking? What written formats (types of poems, paragraphs, etc.) lend themselves best, if compare and contrast thinking is used as a pre-writing strategy? Besides as a pre-write, where might the acts of comparison and contrast be embedded in a solid writing lesson?	Carol Gebhardt, RPDP Trainer Corbett Harrison, RPDP Trainer Jodie Black, Kindergarten Teacher Kim Bronk, Fifth Grade Teacher Cassandra Jenkins , Middle School Teacher Matt Golish, Sixth Grade Teacher Abby Hutchinson, Middle School Teacher Michon Lokke, Second Grade Teacher Clarisse Mayer, Fourth Grade Teacher Kelly Nott, Second Grade Teacher Mark Towell, High School Teacher Ann Urie, First Grade Teacher Holly Young, High School Teacher
Creative Tools for Comparison & Contrast: Here are several free resources found in the Comparison & Contrast Print Guide	Ways to Write after Comparing& Contrasting Here are several free resources found in the Comparison & Contrast Print Guide
Comparison/Contrast Feet (with example) Square Venn Diagram (with example) Venn Thought Bubbles (with example) Three Light Bulbs of Thought (with example) Personification Worksheet (with example) Compare it to a Human Body Worksheet (with example) "Key" Card Analogy Worksheet (with example) Color Set of 80 Metaphor Cards (with instructions)	Diamond Poems The Di-Ku and the Tri-Ku Poems for Two Voices The Sketch & Write (with blank for Xeroxing) 3-Voice Story Boards 5-Voice Story Boards Unusual Smear Campaigns Comparison/Contrast Word Splashes Comparison/Contrast Essays
Free-to-Use Lessons from WritingFix that Skillfully Integrate Comparison & Contrast Thinking:
Lesson title: Start with What Isn't There Lesson's Mentor Text: Caves by Stephen Kramer Notes on this lesson's comparison and contrast features: Two uses of comparison and contrast here: 1) students compose two paragraphs about a setting description, each paragraph exploring a different aspect of the place; 2) students compare and contrast the voice used in the student samples that are provided.	Lesson title: Giving Voice to Opposites Lesson's Mentor Text: I Am the Dog I Am the Cat by Donald Hall Notes on this lesson's comparison and contrast features: Two opposite voices give their opinions about similar topics in this "dueling monologue" writing assignment. Be sure to check out Ann Urie's first grader's example, "I am the Mom, I am the Kid."
Lesson title: Pros, Cons, and Hooks Lesson's Mentor Text: How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long Notes on this lesson's comparison and contrast features: Students brainstorm the pros and cons of different topics, then plan a short essay that explores these opposites in an organized and well-paced draft.	Lesson title: Four Metaphor Poetry Lesson's Mentor Text: Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox Notes on this lesson's comparison and contrast features: Students explore similarities between abstract ideas and concrete nouns, ultimately creating a four-part poem that builds a metaphor.
Lesson title: Antonyms & Comma Splices Lesson's Mentor Text: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (excerpt from chapter 1) Notes on this lesson's comparison and contrast features: Students imitate Dickens' famous opposite-filled opening (...best of times, it was the worst of times...") with creative topics or with topics they're studying in school.	Lesson title: Same Setting, Different Moods Lesson's Mentor Text: Lord of the Flies by William Golding (excerpt from chapter 3) Notes on this lesson's comparison and contrast features: Two characters in Golding's classic story explore and experience the jungle setting with different eyes, showing the reader two distinctly opposite moods. Students imitate what Golding has done with a different setting.
Lesson title: Arguing Voices inside One Character's Head Lesson's Mentor Text: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (excerpts from chapters 1-7) Notes on this lesson's comparison and contrast features: Students create two arguing voices that might be heard inside one character's head, then create a descriptive scene that shows that character in action.	Lesson title: Hat Trick Lesson's Mentor Text: The Pearl by John Steinbeck (excerpt from chapter 4) Notes on this lesson's comparison and contrast features: Borrowing from Steinbeck's style of writing, students explore (and write about) different ways of wearing the same item of clothing, depending on the person who is wearing.
Free-to-Use Writing Prompts from WritingFix that Push Comparison & Contrast Thinking:
Prompt title: Serendipitous Simile Builder Notes on this lesson's comparison and contrast features: The on-line, interactive word game helps students create a comparative simile about a real or imaginary person, then use the simile to inspire a descriptive paragraph.	Prompt title: Serendipitous Personification Notes on this lesson's comparison and contrast features: The on-line, interactive word game helps students create an interesting sentence that compares something non-human to something human. Students then use their personification to inspire a descriptive paragraph.
Prompt title: Dueling Haikus Notes on this lesson's comparison and contrast features: Once your students have learned the basics of the haiku format, require them to write dueling haikus--two haikus on topics that can be compared or contrasted.	Prompt title: Dueling Acrostics Notes on this lesson's comparison and contrast features: Once your students have learned the basics of the acrostic poem format, require them to write dueling acrostics--two acrostic poems on topics that can be compared or contrasted.